Yanks gain momentum

Pettitte's clutch pitching helps New York even ALCS

Yankees 6, Red Sox 2

NEW YORK — Joe Torre didn't want to say it, but he couldn't deny it very well either.

"It's a must-game tonight," the Yankees manager conceded before Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. "But if we lose, I'll find a reason why it wasn't a must-game."

No rationale was needed as the Yankees went methodically about their business Thursday night. They chipped away with two runs in the second inning, a run each in the third and fifth and two more in the seventh to subdue a red-hot Boston Red Sox club 6-2 to even the series at one game apiece going into Saturday game in Boston.

With Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez looming at Fenway Park in Game 3, the Yankees knew they had to beat Boston starter Derek Lowe.

Lowe, a 30-year-old right-hander with a nasty sinker but a penchant for losing on the road, was 6-5 with a 6.11 ERA away from home this season compared to 11-2 and 3.21 at Fenway.

"If we knew the reason, then we would do whatever we could to adjust and make it where he would pitch good everywhere," quipped Boston manager Grady Little. "It's just one of those things."

One of those things the Yankees had to capitalize on was that Lowe was coming off three appearances--one start and two in relief--in the division series against Oakland.

In the Yankees' favor was 21-game winner and unofficial Game 2 savior Andy Pettitte, who has established a reputation for coming through in those must-win, often Game 2 situations in the postseason.

Most recently, Pettitte's seven-inning, one-run, 10-strikeout performance in Game 2 against Minnesota last week was the turning point for the Yankees in that division series. Spurred by Yankees owner George Steinbrenner's decree after the Game 1 loss to the Twins that Torre better "fix" what was wrong with his team, Torre remarked afterward that "Andy Pettitte fixed it."

The 31-year-old lefty was again Mr. Fix-it, if not perfect then good enough Thursday night, leaving to a thunderous ovation from the Yankee Stadium crowd of 56,295. In 6 2/3 innings he allowed two runs on nine hits with five strikeouts for his fifth straight ALCS victory.

Torre shattered the illusion that Pettitte is also Mr. Cool.

"[Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre] had to do some therapy on him, he was really wound up," Torre said. "He got so pumped up with the extra day's rest, he was overthrowing the ball."

It was Pettitte's 12th career postseason victory, vaulting him into a second-place tie with Tom Glavine and one victory shy of John Smoltz.

Ideally, the Yankees, with a day off Friday and Mariano Rivera having last pitched Sunday in New York's division clincher, wanted to get Pettitte into the eighth before yielding to their stopper.

But Yankees' rookie reliever Jose Contreras took the ball from Pettitte in the seventh and retired the next four Red Sox batters before letting Rivera close it out in the ninth.

"I felt good getting out of that [second] inning giving up just one," Pettitte said of his shaky start. "I knew I threw so many pitches, I was trying to figure out a way I was going to last."

One sure way was for the Yankees' offense to find itself after an anemic three-hit performance in a Game 1 loss, Wednesday, and bit by bit, it did.

Yankees first baseman Nick Johnson put New York on top in the bottom of the second when he belted an 0-1 sinker that didn't quite sink into the lower deck in right field for a two-run homer.

"That was huge," Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter said of Johnson's blast. "It was the first lead we've had this series."

The Yankees padded their lead to 3-1 in the third, with Bernie Williams' single to right driving in Jeter from second. New York added another run in the fourth when Hideki Matsui's single to right drove in Williams, who had reached on a double.

Pettitte appeared to settle down after Boston's initial burst, allowing one hit through three innings until Jason Veritek poked a two-out solo homer into left to cut the Yankees lead in half at 4-2.

But Jorge Posada's two-run double into left-center, driving in Jason Giambi and Williams, gave the Yankees the distance they needed as they snapped the Red Sox four-game winning streak.